Manual identification, measurement of various dimensions and orientation of mounted units, i.e. wheel and tire assembly for motor vehicle can be time consuming and subject to human error. It has become desirable to process an ever-increasing variety of the wheels and tires, through a single assembly line. Modern assembly lines for production and processing of the wheel and tire assembly for motor vehicles are automated to provide maximum production efficiency. With the advent of flexible manufacturing and the multiplicity of different styles, configurations and dimensions of the wheel and tire assembly, the automated assembly line has become more desirable and efficient.
Typically, the automated assembly line for mounted units includes a conveyor base to accommodate various work-stations. These stations include a wheel, i.e. wheel loader assembly designed to position the wheel on a wheel plate operably connected to the conveyor, a wheel soaper assembly for applying a lubricant solution onto the edges of the wheel, wherein the wheel soaper assembly is attached to the wheel loader assembly. A tire soaper assembly for applying the lubricant around inner circumference of the tire before mounting the tire about the wheel to form the wheel is also provided at the assembly line. Generally, the assembly line includes wheel and tire mounting and tire inflation assemblies.
In order to process multiple varieties of the wheel and tire assemblies through the single assembly line, it has become necessary to verify the type of the wheel entering an assembly process so that mechanized assembly devices can assemble the correct components. For example, it has become desirable to mate up to six consecutive wheel sizes with corresponding tires at an assembly facility. To match the correct tire with the correct wheel size and to identify the correct valve stem to be inserted into a given wheel, each wheel must be identified upon entering the assembly process and the various mechanized assembly stages must be signaled which wheel size is to be processed. Because four tires and wheels must be assembled for each vehicle, each wheel or tire entering the assembly line must be identified within a matter of seconds.
The art is replete with various workstations using laser beams and light sources for identifying and orienting various workpieces and parts. The U.S. patent application Publication No. 200300665421 to Didriksen et al. teaches a storage system for receiving, delivering and storing items to be distributed. The size of the items is determined in order to allocate the correct amount of space. The system includes a cylindrical shell part that comprises nine photocells being positioned in a vertical direction. Thus, the height of an item being received by the system and positioned on a platform, is determined by blocking one or more of the photocells.
The U.S. Pat. No. 6,173,213 to Amiguet et al. teaches a system for identifying and orienting a wheel. The system includes a wheel style recognition station, a conveyor for delivering the wheel to the wheel style recognition station, and a wheel orientation sensor that senses the radial orientation of the wheel on the wheel style recognition station, and generates a radial orientation signal. The system includes a wheel-mapping sensor that scans the wheel and generates a wheel style mapping signal pattern, while the wheel is rotated at a steady rate of rotation. The system also includes a control unit, which compares the wheel style mapping signal pattern with at least one reference wheel style mapping signal pattern. These systems have proven to be too slow to evaluate a large number of variously sized wheels and tires.
Other presently known wheel identification stations have utilized video cameras in an attempt to identify a given wheel size. These video identification devices signal a controller, which requires a significant amount of processing to make correct wheel identification. This type of identification device requires a significant amount of computing power to identify wheels at a rapid pace, which has resulted in an excess of cost to produce a wheel identification assembly line.
There is a constant need in the area of the automotive industry for an improved system for and a method of determining a configuration of a workpiece at ever increased speed.